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The Road to El Dorado
The Road to El Dorado is a 2000 American animated adventure comedy film directed by Eric "Bibo" Bergeron and Don Paul, with additional sequences by Will Finn and David Silverman, starrring Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, and Rosie Perez, and produced by DreamWorks. The soundtrack features songs by Elton John and lyrics Tim Rice, as well as score composer Hans Zimmer. The movie begins in the 16th-century Seville, Spain, and tells about two men named Tulio and Miguel. During a dice game using loaded dice, they win a map that supposedly shows the location of El Dorado, the legendary city of gold in the New World. However, their cheating is soon discovered and as a result, they end up as stowaways on Hernan Cortes' fleet to conquer Mexico. They are discovered but manage to escape in a boat with Cortes' prized war horse and eventually discover the hidden city of El Dorado, where they are mistaken for gods. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a box-office bomb. To date, it is the only DreamWorks Animation film not to recover its budget. Plot In Spain 1519, two Spanish con-men, Tulio and Miguel win a map to the legendary City of Gold, El Dorado, in a rigged gambling match (though ironically they end up winning the map fairly). After being accused of cheating with loaded dice, the two evade capture while being chased by a bull and hide in barrels, which are shortly loaded onto one of the ships to be led by Hernan Cortes to the New World. During the trip, they are caught as stowaways but manage to break free and take a rowboat with the help of Cortes' horse, Altivo. They land at an unknown shore at the edge of Mexico, and Miguel begins to recognize landmarks stated on the map. The map leads them to a relief outside of a waterfall where a young woman approaches them, chased by a number of guards. The guards see the image of Tulio and Miguel riding Altivo as the same on the totem, and believing them to be gods, escort them and the woman under the falls and into El Dorado, truly a city made of gold. Tulio and Miguel are brought to the city's elders, Chief Tannabok and wicked high priest Tzekel-Kan. While Tannabok warmly welcomes them to the city, Tzekel-Kan mainly sees them as a way to enhance his own standing. Tzekel-Kan also believes that with the arrival of the gods comes "The Year of the Jaguar", a year in which the city will be purged of all wicked people. Tulio and Miguel begin to argue on what to do. Everyone is convinced they are gods when as a volcano is beginning to erupt, Tulio yells at Miguel to stop, and the volcano suddenly stops. After celebrations offered by both Tannabok and Tzekel-Kan, the two are taken to private quarters along with the woman they met earlier, Chel, who has seen through their ploy but offers to help maintain it as long as they give her a share of the gold and take her with them when they leave. Tulio tells Tannabok the next day they are only here for a visit but will need a boat built to leave the city with the gifts the city has showered upon them. Tannabok says it will take them at least three days to construct a vessel to carry both them and the gifts given to them by the people of El Dorado. Chel encourages Miguel to continue to explore the city while she to get close to Tulio. Miguel finds the streets empty and sees an old man being pushed by a guard, who tells him Tzekel-Kan had ordered the streets cleared to prepare for a sacrifice by the gods' orders. Miguel begins playing a guitar and begins to bond with the people. When Tzekel-Kan sees Miguel playing a ball game with children, he demands that the gods play against the city's best players. During the match, Tulio and Miguel are clearly over-matched, but Chel replaces the ball with a rolled-up armadillo, allowing the two to cheat and win the game. However, when Tzekel-Kan offers to have the defeated players sacrificed, Miguel declares there is no need for sacrifices or him. While leaving, Tzekel-Kan sees a small cut on Miguel's forehead and realizes that he is not a god. Tzekel-Kan conjures a giant stone jaguar to chase them through the city. Tulio and Miguel manage to outwit the stone jaguar, causing both it and Tzekel-Kan to fall into a giant whirlpool, thought to be the entrance to Xibalba, the spirit world. Tzekel-Kan comes to outside El Dorado, where Cortes and his men are searching for gold. Thinking Cortes is a true god, Tzekel-Kan quickly offers to lead them to El Dorado. With their boat completed and loaded with gold, Tulio is ready to leave but Miguel announces that he will be staying because he finds the city peaceful. As Tulio and Chel start to leave, they spot smoke on the horizon, realizing that Cortes and his men are quickly approaching the city with the help from Tzekel-Kan. To protect the city from the Spanish troops, Tulio determines they can use the boat to slam against rock formations under the waterfall path that will cave in and block access to the city. The city's residents start to pull down a large statue to create a wave to propel the boat, but Tulio cannot get the sails up to give the boat enough speed to avoid the statue. Miguel forgoes his chance to stay in the city and jumps into the boat with Altivo to finish hoisting the sails. The boat clears the statue in time, and Tulio's plan is successful; though the boat and its treasures are lost, the entrance to El Dorado is sealed for good. Tulio, Miguel, Chel, and Altivo hide as Tzekel-Kan brings Cortes and his men towards the waterfall. Once Tzekal-Kan finds out that the entrance has been blocked, an angry Cortes takes this as a lie. Cortes and his men then march away with a humiliated Tzekel-Kan in their hands. Tulio and Miguel though disappointed they lost their treasure, take off in a different direction for a new adventure (with Chel), unaware that Altivo still wears the golden horseshoes he was outfitted with in the city. Category:2000 films Category:2000 animated films Category:2000s adventure comedy films Category:2000s American animated films Category:2000s comedy films Category:2000s road movies Category:American films Category:American adventure comedy films Category:American animated films Category:American buddy films Category:American children's animated adventure films Category:American children's animated comedy films Category:American road movies Category:English-language films Category:Animated buddy films Category:Animated films based on animated series Category:Animated films about humans Category:Animated films about gods Category:Animated films about soldiers Category:Animated films about south america Category:Directorial debut films Category:Films based on animated television series Category:Films set in the Mexico Category:Films directed by Eric Bergeron Category:Films directed by Don Paul Category:Films produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg Category:Films produced by Bonne Radford Category:Films directed by Brook Brenton Category:Films scored by Hans Zimmer Category:Real World Articles Category:Media Category:Military-themed episodes Category:Environment-themed episodes Category:Crime-themed Episodes Category:Movies Category:Rated G movies Category:Dreamworks Animation Movies Category:Paramount Movies Category:The Road to El Dorado